


toy store girl

by laurenjauregui



Series: you make me sick (for being so perfect) drafts [7]
Category: Fifth Harmony (Band)
Genre: F/F, autistic!lauren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-22 20:43:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10704723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurenjauregui/pseuds/laurenjauregui
Summary: When Camila's mother tells her she's allowed one thing from the toy store, she has her sights set on a certain little girl named Lauren.





	toy store girl

“You’re coming home with me.”

At the words, Lauren frowns, but doesn’t pay much attention. She’s too busy looking for a Simba to match her Nala, and that’s why she’d come to the toy store in the first place.

When she feels something poke her in the arm, Lauren jumps back and looks over to her mother, who is talking on the phone and not watching.

“Aren’t you _listening_?” The voice says, and Lauren turns around to see a little girl around her age. Instantly, Lauren recoils, because she doesn’t know this girl, and she’s not sure what to say to kids her age.

When she makes eye contact for a split second, the girl smiles. “Good! You’re listening. You’ve got to come with me, my mami is over there.”

Lauren frowns, not sure why she has to go with this girl. She looks over at her mom, and Clara smiles down at her, mouthing something a little too quickly. Lauren doesn’t know what she’s saying, so she shrugs and turns back to the girl.

“You have to come with me.” The girl says again, but when Lauren doesn’t move, she pouts and turns to her own mother. “Mami! She’s not coming with me.”

At the girl’s voice, a woman comes over, and frowns down at her daughter. “Karla, mija, what are you talking about?”

“Her!” The girl, Karla, points at Lauren. “You said I could have one thing in the whole store, and I want her. But she’s not coming with me.”

The woman laughs, and says something in Spanish, but it’s too quick for Lauren to understand. Then, she turns to her daughter and says, “No, mija, you’re allowed any _toy_ in the whole store. You can’t have a _person_.”

“But _why not_?” Karla pouts. “I like her. Excuse me, but do you want to come home with me? My mami can buy you for me and you can be my friend.”

At the word _friend_ , Lauren gets excited, because she’s never had one of those, so she nods and looks over at the lady hopefully. “’es. _Fwend_.”

“See!” Karla exclaims. “She wants to come with me. Can I keep her, mami? She can be my friend.”

“Mija, she’s not a dog,” the woman laughs, “you can’t just take another kid home. Come on, we need to find her parents.”

Lauren points over at her mom, and as she does, Clara hangs up the phone and comes over. “Have you found your Simba yet, Lauren.”

“Her name is Lauren?” Karla asks, and when Clara nods, a little confused, the little girl clears her throat and says. “Excuse me, missus, but I’d like to buy her, ‘cause my mami says I’m allowed one thing in the store, and I want her. She’s pretty.”

At the words, Lauren blushes, and Clara laughs. “I’m sorry, sweetie, but you can’t buy Lauren. Maybe your mami can find you a nice doll.”

Lauren looks up, disappointed. “ _Fwend!”_

“Maybe we could set up a playdate for you and your new friend.” Clara smiles, and Lauren giggles happily.

Karla doesn’t look too happy. “But I want her to come home with me! My mami said I can have one thing, and I want _her_.”

“Karla, don’t make a scene,” Sinu says, “I can exchange numbers with Lauren’s mami and you can meet her some time. Maybe you can go to the park.”

Karla stamps her foot. “I want her to come home with me _now_.”

Lauren blinks, watching as Clara gives Sinu her number, and when Sinu tells Karla that they’re going, the little girl grabs onto Lauren’s arm. Lauren doesn’t like that.

She yanks her arm from Karla’s grip and shoves the other girl away, shouting, “No!”

Clara apologises, and Karla looks up at Lauren, eyes wide and watery. “I thought you wanted to be my friend.”

Lauren frowns. She _does_ want to be friends, she already said so, but Karla had grabbed her, and she didn’t like it. “No touch.”

“You don’t like being touched?” Karla frowns at her. “That’s weird.”

Lauren stares. She’s just made a friend, and now her friend is calling her weird? “No!”

Karla keeps frowning, and Lauren shakes her head, starting to cry, and shouting, “ _No, no, no!_ ” because she _can’t_ have her friend think she’s weird.

“Mami,” Karla says to Sinu, “I think she’s broken. I want something else now.”

After a few words of apology from both of the adults, Sinu scoops little Karla up into her arms and walks away, Lauren still crying on the floor of the toy store, because her first friend isn’t _allowed_ to leave.

Clara never gets a call from Sinu about a playdate.

Lauren doesn’t understand _why_ , and when her mom tries to explain, she gets upset, because she didn’t mean to scare her friend. She just wanted to tell her not to touch her, and she didn’t know how, because she was upset that her friend was looking at her weirdly.

Clara assures a distraught Lauren that she’ll make plenty of friends when she’s older, but Lauren is still sad, because she wants her _first_ friend back.

-

“Hey, Ralph,” Dinah shouts out the usual nickname, and Lauren, concentrating on her art, doesn’t look up. She’s in the middle of a very important portrait, and she _can’t_ be interrupted. “ _Ralph!”_

“Shut up,” Lauren murmurs, shading in just the right spot on the portrait of Normani, “busy.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve made a new friend,” Dinah tells her, “and I think we should make her feel welcome at a new school.”

At this, Lauren looks up, intrigued. She meets the soft brown gaze of a girl that looks vaguely familiar, but she can’t place her. Because Dinah had told her to make the girl welcome, Lauren sets her pencil down and says, “Hello. I am Lauren.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” the girl sits down in the spot next to her, and Lauren frowns, because that’s _Mani’s_ seat, not this new girl’s. “I’m Camila. So, uh, what are you drawing?”

“A portrait of my best friend, Mani,” Lauren answers, and she _really_ wants to get back to it, but her mom had told her that it’s polite to answer people’s questions, even though Lauren ignores people sometimes. “I am good at art.”

“Yeah,” Camila glances at the picture with a smile, “you are, actually. I suck at it. Literally every time I draw something, it looks like a five year old drew it.”

Lauren isn’t sure what to say to that, so she picks up her pencil again and resumes drawing, because she wants to get Normani’s portrait done by the end of her free period. She can hear Dinah talking to Camila, but she isn’t sure _what_ they’re saying, because she’s concentrating on her art, and she’d much rather do that than make _small talk_.

(She still isn’t entirely sure what makes the talk _small_.)

When she finishes her portrait, she makes sure to leave her sketchbook open on the correct page, and puts her pencil back in her neatly organised pencil case. Then, she looks up, a little surprised that Normani and Ally have already arrived, and that ten minutes of their lunch period had passed.

“Manibear,” Lauren gets her friend’s attention, “I did the portrait of you.”

When Lauren slides her sketchbook over to Normani, and her best friend beams at it. “This is _fire_ , Lo. Can I take it out?”

“Um,” Lauren looks down at her sketchbook, not sure how she feels about someone ripping a page out, “I- I don’t… if- if you want…”

Normani closes the book and sends her a smile, pushing it back over at her. “Photocopy it for me.”

“What did you mean by fire?” Lauren asks as she puts her sketchbook away. “Did you like it or not?”

“I loved it,” Normani assures her, “ _Fire_ is like, cool. You know?”

“But… fire can’t be cool,” Lauren frowns at her, “because it’s hot.”

The new girl, Camila, laughs at this, and Lauren looks over at her, not sure what’s so funny. Camila just smiles and says, “Good joke. That’s my sense of humour.”

“I’m not joking,” Lauren looks over at her, her walls going up. “I’m _not_ stupid, I’m probably smarter than you. I have a 5.0 GPA, and I don’t like it when people laugh at me.”

Camila stares at her. “What did I do?”

“You’re making _fun_ of me.” Lauren replies, frustrated. “I _know_ you are, I’m not stupid, just because I’m autistic-”

“I’m not making fun of you,” Camila interrupts her, holding her hands up in defence, “I swear. I thought you were joking, but now that you’ve said that…”

“I’m _not_ stupid,” Lauren continues, picking up her backpack and turning to the door. “I am going for a walk.”

Lauren stalks out of the room, in a bad mood, because the new girl is making fun of her, and she doesn’t like that. She decides that this new girl isn’t her friend, and she’s going to tell her to go away later.

“Hey, wait!”

When she turns and sees Camila, Lauren huffs and picks up her pace, but the girl catches up to her. So, Lauren sends her the best glare she can muster and says, “Go away.”

“No,” Camila answers, “I’m sorry you thought I was making fun of you. I genuinely thought you were making a joke about that whole fire and cool thing, not that you didn’t know what it meant.”

“I’m not stupid,” Lauren folds her arms across her chest, “I- I have a 5.0 GPA.”

“I bet you do,” Camila says, “I didn’t know you were autistic, and that’s why you were asking.”

“Oh,” Lauren murmurs to herself. She’s just so used to people making fun of her like that, she thought that Camila was doing it too. “I’m sorry for getting angry at you.”

“It’s okay,” Camila sends her a bright smile, “Can we be friends?”

“Um… yes,” Lauren nods in confirmation. “We can be friends.”

“Good,” Camila beams, and holds out her hand, “well, _friend_ , will you show me to the library? There’s a book I need to get for my next class.”

Cautiously, Lauren takes Camila’s hand and nods. “Okay. Friend.”

-

“Do you want to come over tonight?”

At the words, Lauren frowns. “Me?”

“Yes, Lolo,” Camila laughs as she catches up to Lauren on the way out of school, “You. I want you to meet my family.”

“Okay.” Lauren nods. “What time would you like me to arrive?”

“Um…” Camila shrugs, “come home with me now. My mom’s car is over there.”

Lauren glances over at the car Camila is pointing at, and nods, letting her friend lead her over to the car. Camila gets in the backseat with her, and announces to the woman in the driver’s seat, “Mom, this is Lauren. She’s one of the girls I told you about.”

The lady smiles at her. “Hola, Lauren. Camila has told me lots about you.”

“Yeah,” Camila says in response, “like how you have a 5.0 GPA.”

Lauren beams. “Yes, I’m very intelligent. It is nice to meet you, Mrs Cabello.”

“Call me Sinu,” the woman smiles, and the name rings a bell in Lauren’s head. “It’s nice to know that Camila is making friends who’re so polite.”

“Really?” Lauren frowns, brushing off the name thing. “My parents tell me I can be rude sometimes, but I don’t realise it because I’m autistic, so if I say something that you might think is bad, I am sorry.”

Camila squeezes Lauren’s hand, “You didn’t have to tell her.”

Lauren shrugs. “I’m not ashamed of it. It’s a part of me and I like that part. I like all the parts.”

Camila laughs, “Teach me your ways of self-acceptance. I need it.”

“You shouldn’t,” Lauren answers with a smile. “You’re a very wonderful person, Camila. You’re my friend, and I see lots of good in you.”

Camila smiles at her, and Lauren feels her tummy flip. “You’re a sweetheart.”

“I’ve never been called that before,” Lauren answers, before saying, “do you have any pets?”

“Nope,” Camila says, “I want a dog, but _apparently_ I’m not responsible enough.”

“Mija, you could barely keep a house plant alive,” Sinu says, “I’m not trusting you with a dog.”

“I have a dog,” Lauren announces, “his name is Dash, but you knew that already, because you’ve met him.”

“Yeah, I’ve met your dog, but not your _parents_ ,” Camila points out, “when can I meet them, huh?”

“Whenever you like.” Lauren tells her, “Schedule a time to come over and I will let you meet them.”

-

Camila lets Lauren know that she wants to come over next Thursday for dinner, and Lauren makes sure that it’s okay with her parents before she says yes.

Lauren walks home, so she and Camila arrive at her house after school, Camila complaining about exercise but assuring Lauren that she’s being overdramatic to be funny – Lauren laughs once she explains.

“You know, you always seemed kind of familiar to me,” Camila tells her when Lauren leads her upstairs, “I still haven’t figured out why.”

“I thought you were familiar, too,” Lauren tells her, “maybe we knew each other in a past life.”

Camila grins. “Maybe we were lovers.”

When Lauren turns bright red, Camila laughs, and clarifies that she’s only joking. Lauren decides that she wouldn’t mind being Camila’s romantic partner, if the girl asked, because she’s very pretty, and Lauren enjoys her company.

Clara and Mike adore her – Mike says he loves the bad jokes that Camila tells, and Clara, knowing how smitten Lauren is, says she approves once Camila has gone home.

Lauren knows that she and Camila won’t get together, but she’d like it if they did.

-

Lauren stays over at Camila’s one night, and it’s the first time she’s stayed away from home since the time she met Normani in third grade, and she’d had a sleepover with her. Lauren had cried all night, and she’d had a nightmare about being away from home, so her parents had to pick her up at midnight.

Thankfully, she doesn’t cry at Camila’s, or have to go home, because she remembers to bring Nala, and Camila makes sure to hold her all night and make her comfortable and warm.

Lauren feels safe with Camila, and she doesn’t know why, but she likes being at Camila’s house. She decides to stay over more often.

When her mom arrives to pick her up in the morning, and Sinu opens the door, there’s a lot of surprise and laughter. Lauren doesn’t understand why, and she looks to Camila for explanation, but her friend doesn’t know, either.

Lauren stands up from the couch and goes to give her mom a hug hello, when Sinu turns to Camila with a teasing smile. “Mija, remember that time I took you to the toy store and I said you could have one thing from the entire store?”

Camila frowns. “You’re going to have to be more specific?”

“Well, remember when you wanted another little girl to come home with you?” Sinu laughs. “And you asked her mom if you could buy her?”

Camila turns bright red. “Unfortunately, yes, I remember that.”

“I think we’ve found who you wanted to buy.”

When Camila looks over at Lauren, her eyes widen, and Lauren does the same, because she remembers that, too. She remembers making a friend, but then she never saw her again, and she cried for a few days, because she didn’t understand why she always scared other kids off when she tried to talk to them. When she was older, her mom explained that it was because she couldn’t communicate properly.

“Wait, no,” Lauren shakes her head when she thinks back, “that girl was called Karla! You’re Camila.”

Camila, still blushing, murmurs, “My first name is Karla. Camila’s my middle name, but I prefer it, so… nobody really calls me Karla anymore.”

At Camila’s words, Lauren laughs. “You wanted to buy me.”

“Shut up,” Camila mutters half-heartedly, “you’re annoying.”

“No, I’m not,” Lauren says, “because you wanted to buy me. Why didn’t you ever come for a playdate, though? My mami said you would.”

This time, Camila looks sad, and Lauren frowns at her. “I was frightened because you shoved me. Obviously now, I know that you’re autistic, and I must’ve scared you somehow. But yeah. That’s why a playdate never happened.”

“Oh,” Lauren hums to herself, “well, you got to take me home with you after all!”

Camila laughs. “Yeah. Guess I did.”

After a few goodbyes and an awkward hug from Camila, Lauren follows her mom out of the door. As Clara is putting her bag in the trunk, Lauren hears Camila’s voice calling after her.

She turns around and sees her friend running down the driveway, before she skids to a halt in front of her. “Look, Laur, I’m sorry if this ruins our friendship, but like… I can’t ignore this.”

Before Lauren can ask what Camila is talking about, the younger girl pulls her in for a kiss, and Lauren lets out a surprised squeak at the action, her stomach squirming. She’s not alert enough to kiss her friend back, and Camila pulls away, staring up at her.

“That was…” Lauren trails off, trying to think of an appropriate adjective, “thoroughly enjoyable.”

Camila laughs, nodding her head in agreement. “Yeah. It was.”

Lauren taps against her pants leg. “Um… what was that for?”

“Well…” Camila shrugs, “I’d like to think it was fate. Me finding you after all these years and becoming best friends. And… you’re kind of perfect. So would you want to… go out sometime? On a date?”

Lauren beams. “Yes! I would love that!”

“Good,” Camila breathes a sigh of relief, “that would’ve been super awkward if you said no.”

“Why would I say no?” Lauren asks aloud, before her mind switches topics, “Can I kiss you again?”

Camila answers by pulling her in for another kiss, and when they break apart, she smiles up at Lauren in total adoration. “Yeah, definitely fate.”


End file.
